Since the start of the MMP election era in 1996, Winston Peters and his party have held the balance of power in four out of 10 general elections.
Following election night this year, there was a question mark as to whether National and ACT could go it alone with a wafer-thin majority. But after weeks of speculation, the final election results announced last Friday once again put NZ First in the all-too-important kingmaker role.
As history repeats this election, we take a look back at the controversy that surrounded these coalition talks in 1996, 2005 and 2017, by diving into the 1News Archive.
1996: Jim Bolger's National and NZ First
This was New Zealand's first MMP election and Peters' first experience as kingmaker.
During the election campaign, Peters had promised to oust National. So after two months of coalition talks, his decision to side with the party shocked many New Zealanders.
“I think it's a disappointment to every New Zealander who voted for a government of change.
2005: Helen Clark's Labour and NZ First
During the election campaign, Peters played coy on who NZ First would side with. He played up to the media with a phone skit pretending to have one blue phone for National's leader Don Brash and one red phone for Labour's leader Helen Clark. This stunt led to Peters being labelled as a "king-joker''.
Peters pretended to answer the blue phone: ''Hello, Don who?
"Don, I've got a press conference here and they want to know who you're going with."
While still holding the blue phone Peters picked up the red phone: " Hi, Helen. What a coincidence, I've got Don on the phone."
Peters developed a reputation for not only being a bit of a joker but also keeping his coalition preferences close to his chest.
On the campaign trail, after much delay Peters formally announced that NZ First would not go into a formal coalition with either National or Labour, saying there "wasn't enough common ground".
Brash responded by saying: "All of a sudden, nothing happened."
“Winston's art form over the years has been to keep people guessing.
In the end, Labour did not have enough of a majority to govern alone, and so NZ First - along with United Future - came to an agreement of confidence and supply.
Peters claimed this was in the "interest of stability" and that he believed "no other position could sustain a government for the next three years".
2017: Jacinda Ardern's Labour and NZ First
Famously, "Jacindamania" lifted Ardern to popularity just weeks out from the election, but it wasn't enough for Labour to form a government on their own.
Once again, Peters and NZ First held all the post-election leverage.
“We don't have all the cards, but we do have the main cards.
Tired of being asked who NZ First was going to side with, Peters joked: "If we hear that one more time, I think we'll be advocating a change of our political system."
Peters then announced live on-air that NZ First would form a coalition government with Labour. Both National and Labour learned of the decision at the same time as the New Zealand public.
Just a mere 27 years on from Peters' debut as kingmaker, the country again waits for NZ First's decision. Continuing his reputation of "keeping people guessing", Peters has kept the talks with ACT and National shrouded in an air of mystery. "if you're going to raise the coalition talks, you're not going to get an answer at all," was one of his more forthcoming answers.
'From the Archive' is a weekly video series on 1News.co.nz, exploring TVNZ's vast archive of news content spanning decades.
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